As General Mike Hayden wrote “During my time at the CIA, the most discussed topic in the oval office was terrorism and the ongoing wars. Number two was Iran. It wasn’t all that close. But we talked about Iran a lot. There really wasn’t a number three. …So, Iran was a big deal… Iran was a tough target…. It was complicated… Iran was already an incredibly destabilizing force in the region. Iran remains the duplicitous, autocratic, terrorist-backing, Hezbollah-supporting, Hamas-funding, region-destabilizing, hegemony-seeking theocracy it has been. ” [Hayden, Michael; Playing on the edge, Penguin Books, 2016, P. 290-8] . The statement of General Hayden, who is an icon in the history of the American intelligence community, is still true and credible.
Despite all observation and familiar consideration in classified information and relations with SAVAK (the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty), the CIA failed to foresee the results of the revolt of Khomeini that led to closure of CIA centers and the US embassy inside Iran. In those days, CIA couldn’t recognize the main mission of the Transnational Terrorist Network.
Since the emergence of the Cold War, in the time of Truman and then Eisenhower, the late Shah of Iran was a friend and honest ally of the US. The CIA had centers inside Iran. If truth be told, only Richard Helms knew what was going on there. Some of my friends inside the CIA know that what is called the “CIA’s greatest single triumph” in 1953 is a joke. There was no election, and no elected PM in Iran. The CIA’s Near East operation chief had no power and no influence to cause a coup inside Iran. It is a bizarre and ridiculous rumor of Islamic fanatic pro-Khomeini clowns who were the architects of 1979. Mohammad Mosaddeq was a populist, autocrat opportunist who was against democracy in Iran. The fall of Mossadegh was not connected to the CIA.
Disappointingly and naively, on March 17, 2000 the late Secretary of States Madeline Albright gave a speech in which she said: “in 1953, the US played a significant role in orchestrating the overthrow of Iran's' popular PM”. That was a signal to appease the mullahs, and one of the pro-regime charlatan lobbies persuaded her to duplicate these nonsensical words. In fact, all the pro Mosaddeq thugs were allies of Khomeini and Islamic Terrorism.
On February, 1979 – a winter with no spring in sight – a fanatic, cunning mullah took control in Iran. The CIA agents in Iran saw the presence of Islamic terrorist rebels. But it was too late, The CIA did not imagine that the warnings of SAVAK were accurate. Soon after, some of the CIA’s analysts professed that “we were just plain asleep”, “we did not understand who Khomeini was”, “I knew little about Iran…I knew even less about Iranians”.
Two months have gone by since the eruption of the Iran Protests of 2022, in which at least 500 protesters have been killed by Iranian security forces and 20,000 people have been detained, and even though during this time Tehran has organized new terror attacks outside Iran. predictably, the mullah’s regime in Iran cannot remain in power for years to come. The repressive Iranian barbaric regime won't, it is hoped, manage to survive these nationwide anti-regime’s protests. The flames will continue to burn.
After the collapse of communism in 1989, the serious threat in the current free world is “Islamic fanatism” or “Islamic Terrorism”. The mullah’s regime in Tehran is the symbol of this radicalism and the engine of moving this destructive system is Khomeinism.
Once again, the Islamic Republic is like a cancerous tumor which can not harmonize with other cells in the corpus. American diplomacy attempting to engage in dialogue to deal with the savage mullahs is fruitless. The terrorists of IRGC are active in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. So, what’s the difference between the ISIS, IRGC, themullah’s regime, Hamas, Hezbollah, or Islamic Jihad? Nothing! All are different interpretations of radical Islam and terrorism.
For many years, the American government assumed that the reformists are different from the hardliners. However, the reformists and hardliners are the two sides of the same coin. All of them were supporters of Islamic Terrorism. As an example, these days the propaganda machine and all its lobbies of mullahs in the US and Europe spread state propaganda. The groundless claim and a shameful rumor were the dismantling of the morality police. It was a deception and trap aimed at the international community. Nothing has changed with regard to Hijab. Therefore, it’s not advisable to fall for the fake news.
Significantly, Iran was the first country in the region that accepted Radical Islam after 1979, but if the revolt succeeds it will be the first state of Middle East which rejects it formally. Just look at the radical Islamic ceremonies of Shia in New York and Los Angeles. Such a colossal mistake must never be repeated, because it will be a rebirth of more Islamist centers in London or Hamburg., where they founded centers of terrorism, brain washing and radicalism.
So, we should cut the head of the snake, by supporting regime change in Iran or there will be no peace and stability in the region. Truth be told, this ongoing nationwide revolution in Iran has some problems, such as the movement of the 1979 terrorists; the presence of pro-regime reformists; the clowns of MOIS and IRGC among the incapacitated and corrupted opposition; but the brave young generation are doing a great job. Some of the so-called oppositions are seeking a metamorphosis, they would like to morph this regime into another face of Islamic regime. Some of them are reluctant to support regime change, instead they would like to follow the playbook of Yeltsin in Russia to preserve the oligarch of the regime in Iran.
William Burns and David Cohen are studying various reports about Iran and they are in contact with their allies such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or Israel. But my personal recommendation for the CIA and White House is Initiating a snapback and restoring UN sanctions against Iran’s regime, visiting the real Iranian dissidents and describing the ongoing protests as a revolution. Otherwise, there will be no democracy in Iran for a long while.
Understandably, regime change is a taboo in the mentality of the White House. And the US Intelligence chief, Avril Haines, in an interview with NBC said: that the “Iranian government doesn’t see the country’s protests as ‘imminent threat’”. Reasonably, regime change in Iran will be favorable to all the world, specifically the entire Middle East. This is the correct time to encourage this phenomenon. The success in changing the terrorist loving mullah’s regime in Iran means there will be no more regional chaos and terrorism.
Finally let me stress what Michael Morell wrote, prophetically: “Iran wants to be the hegemonic power in the Middle East; it wants , in short, to reestablish the Persian Empire [ probably he means Shia Crescent] . Moreover, many Iranian [ regime’s] leaders believe that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth, Iran itself practices terrorism as a tool of statecraft, and Iran supports terrorist groups that target Israel, including the most significant ones – Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran supports insurgent groups in the Persian Gulf … and on top of all that, is Iran’s nuclear program. Iran is going to be a problem for the US for a long time to come” [ Morell, Michael; The Great War of our Time , Twelve, 2015, p. 322 ]
Erfan Fard is a counter-terrorism analyst and Middle East Studies researcher based in Washington, DC. He is in Middle Eastern regional security affairs with a particular focus on Iran, counter terrorism, IRGC, MOIS and ethnic conflicts in MENA. He graduated in International Security Studies (London M. University, UK), and in International Relations (CSU-LA). He is fluent in Persian, Kurdish, Arabic and English. / Follow him from this twitter account @EQFARD